"Torchlight" (and the "Diablo" series) remind me more of the hack-n-slash/dungeon-crawler theme used in the original D&D games, kind of like "roguelike" games. I heard people not wanting to lump "roguelike" games as RPGs, which strikes me as odd since both "roguelike" games and the "bioware" RPGs stem from the same roots. *shrugs.*

In some ways I'm not sure I don't think computer RPGs could pull off the complexity of a "Role Played" story like the original paper RPGs, though I really love dungeon-crawlers with minimal stories like these. I haven't played a lot of the current Bioware games and even their old ones tend to do little to attract me. I just wish more games jump straight to the "fun", as your punchline stated Shamus. Great comic! :D

Another good one, Shamus - it's no After Curfew, but still hella funny. I recently spent a couple of hours playing Torchlight and got crazy bored. Thank you isohunt for enabling me to try before buying!

canadamus_prime:Yeah there really needs to be some other sorta genre for the Diablo-style hack'n'slash games.

Why not rpg? >_>

It's possible to play pretty much any of the pen & paper rpg has mindless hack and slash game too if you want. Some people will tell you you 'aren't really playing a rpg' but technically you're using the rules to simulate battle and just skipping the 'role play'. It's do-able. Tons of people do it.

I agree here with Yahtzee and Shamus about RPG's they take to long sometimes to get through the story and to the part where i pres buttons or click the mouse. Good comic to make us laugh off the frustration.

As I mentioned before, to me, an RPG is a game with enough freedom that it enables you to choose your own adventures.In this sense Oblivion, Fallout 3 and GTA are RPGs. Diablo and Dragon Age Origins aren't. Diablo is too limited to be an RPG and in Dragon Age you are tied to play the adventure the designers envisioned.

RPG works fine for everybody. It works by exclusion, as most categorization does -> since it's not a shoot'em up, and it's not a strategy game, it must be an RPG. Some might call it a cRPG (computer rpg) but that's anal. Some would say it's a Diablo-clone, but I leave them alone.

Anyway, the game was fun. Kudos for it running on my no-spec laptop, and I certainly had fun picking up random items and beating the snot out of mindless monsters for a few levels. Bought it on the christmas steam sale for £7, what a bargain!

Also, just in case anyone is wondering*, an RPG is a game in which you can invest yourself in the character and believe in them. Beyond Good & Evil, for example, has the sort of character and world investment I mean, as did Portal, the first Halo, and of course the Thief games. Even though I wouldn't call them Role Playing Games as per the usual definition, for the span of their stories I was *in* the character and *in* the world, and I was playing a role.

Also, I am fast coming to consider Seamus Young as one of the best comic dudes out there, machinima or not. And this comic has killer punchline. Spot on.

i never noticed that torchlight was an rpg, after John Funks flattering review i just bought it and had a ton of fun, but i honestly thought it was in the hack n slash category, which I'm just realizing isn't a real category, its just one of those words gamers use to clarify what type of game you can expect, good thing the game industry dont worry about such silly things.

I also vote Third Person Looter. It evokes the mindless fun of a first person shooter and is accurate in noting one of the two primary motivators (loot). (Power from leveling is the other, which makes me think "Levelers" may be as accurate).

Excellent and nuanced take on Torchlight, Shamus. It's nothing fancy, but it's fun and entertaining and looks good. This should be forwarded to Yahtzee, and anyone else who likes games but doesn't have ADHD.

Godeke:I also vote Third Person Looter. It evokes the mindless fun of a first person shooter and is accurate in noting one of the two primary motivators (loot). (Power from leveling is the other, which makes me think "Levelers" may be as accurate).

Both have an "L" in them. "TPL" can apply to either. Or both. Perhaps alternately.

Games such as Diablo, Fate, Torchlight, etc etc etc could legitimately be called 'Roguelikes', in some circles they already bear the unofficial term.

Convoluted movies that force you to fiddle with the controller every so often while running spreadsheets in the background are firmly in JRPG territory.

Games that you'd play eight or more times just to find pathway in the story you missed the first seven times can be called legitimate RPGs (KotOR, Oblivion, Mass Effect, and Jade Empire all come to mind) IMNSHO.

BehattedWanderer:I would cast vote for TPL (Third Person Looters), if only there were more of them.

Then get off your lazy gamer ass and start making more of them then! I think TPL is an excellent name for them. It's got my vote.

And great strip as usual Shamus.

Pardon? My lazy gaming ass is busy doing metallographic research into the effects of Boron as an intermetallic additive to have time to learn to create a game. Would I like too? Of course I would, but it turns out that one needs years of experience to do such a thing, not just a passing fancy. In the meantime, while I partake in a casual tasting and sampling of what that world has to offer (and what I would have to sacrifice that it might offer), I shall continue my arduous research and study of micrographs, microscopy by transmission and scanning of electrons and their mappings, and elemental planar analysis, seeing as it pays the bills.

canadamus_prime:Yeah there really needs to be some other sorta genre for the Diablo-style hack'n'slash games.

Why not rpg? >_>

It's possible to play pretty much any of the pen & paper rpg has mindless hack and slash game too if you want. Some people will tell you you 'aren't really playing a rpg' but technically you're using the rules to simulate battle and just skipping the 'role play'. It's do-able. Tons of people do it.

BehattedWanderer:I would cast vote for TPL (Third Person Looters), if only there were more of them.

Then get off your lazy gamer ass and start making more of them then! I think TPL is an excellent name for them. It's got my vote.

And great strip as usual Shamus.

Pardon? My lazy gaming ass is busy doing metallographic research into the effects of Boron as an intermetallic additive to have time to learn to create a game. Would I like too? Of course I would, but it turns out that one needs years of experience to do such a thing, not just a passing fancy. In the meantime, while I partake in a casual tasting and sampling of what that world has to offer (and what I would have to sacrifice that it might offer), I shall continue my arduous research and study of micrographs, microscopy by transmission and scanning of electrons and their mappings, and elemental planar analysis, seeing as it pays the bills.